3 Ring Circus

"3 Ring Circus is probably the least funny of the films that Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made together. As a comedy team, these two were hit and miss in films. This one has so little comedy that it's only real attribute is the animals and the portrayal of the once great circuses for entertainment. Even then, there are few real circus feats here. The trapeze work of Zsa Zsa Gabor's Saadia (or her stunt woman double) is almost amateurish compared to the real thing. A number of other movies have some genuine circus performers in them for aerial feats and working with animals from dogs and horses to the big cats and elephants.

Aside from the animals, there's not much to this film. The plot is thin and the antics of Jerry Lewis hardly get a couple of chuckles. The funniest thing in this film is seeing Elsa Lanchester as The Bearded Lady. When Jerry plans to shave her he runs into trouble with the circus manager.

The plot for this film is thin, and the except for the mostly not funny antics of Lewis, it's otherwise quite dull - even boring. The closest thing to humor in the dialog is in these two exchanges.

Jill Brent, "What do you do, Mr. Nelson?" Pete Nelson, "Uh, I'm ma pretty good machine-gunner and I sing a little." Jill Brent, "Mmhmm. Then you must've seen my ad for a singing machine-gunner." Jerry Hotchkiss, "Huh, huh, huh, huh."

Pete Nelson, "How come you never married?" Jill Brent, "Isn't that a rather personal question?" Pete Nelson, "I'm sorry. How come you never married, ma'am?"

As some of you may be aware, I’m no longer that much of a fan of Jerry Lewis – though I did acquire the Paramount 10-disc set of his vehicles recently; growing up I watched a number of them (and also a lot of his teamings with Dean Martin) on Italian TV – and, not having checked out the latter in ages, I was wondering how they held up. Since I can easily lay my hands on the films released on DVD, I opted to give another look to one which, for some reason, has yet to appear on the format and which had certainly been among the first I became acquainted with all those years ago.

I’ve watched scores of films over the years set inside a circus (and should be getting to one more, THE BIG CIRCUS [1959], presently); many comic stars had tried their hand at this exciting and evocative milieu – so it was natural for Lewis (and Martin) to get in on the act as well. Jerry, of course, wants to be a clown but has to go through the ropes first – therefore, we see him as a lion-tamer(!) and, with Martin in tow, sweeping the tents, washing the elephants and as an ice-cream vendor, etc. – inadvertently, he even does a tightrope routine on a bike(!). Soon enough, his antics are getting more laughs than those of the company’s star clown who, naturally, is jealous of all this attention – thus becoming mean in Jerry’s regard, and is generally so soused that he becomes unfit for work! Another clichéd turn-of-events is the fact that the circus (owned by Joanne Dru) would be impoverished if it weren’t for a star attraction in the form of trapeze artist Zsa Zsa Gabor; for this reason, she acts like a diva and, worse for Dru (who, surprise surprise, is attracted to Martin), holds him under her thumb! Helping Dru out is old-timer Wallace Ford – who purports to give the boys a hard time but, predictably, emerges to have a heart of gold underneath; also on hand are Sig Ruman as the veteran lion-tamer and Elsa Lanchester as The Bearded Lady!

Martin (and Lewis) gets to sing a couple of resistible tunes, one of them to a bunch of caged animals!; the soundtrack, then, includes his hit from the previous year “That’s Amore” (first heard in THE CADDY [1953]) and the Paramount standard “Lover” (from the superb Maurice Chevalier/Jeanette MacDonald musical LOVE ME TONIGHT [1932]). Anyway, at the bat of an eyelid, Lewis is awarded the spotlight of star clown (without having really demonstrated any outstanding comedic skills), while Martin – who introduces a spot of gambling to aid the circus – takes over the joint when Dru decides to call it a day. Eventually, Lewis and Martin also quarrel over the circus’ customary show at an orphanage – which Dru returns to compere…but, all’s well that ends well, as Dino has a change of heart and turns up to sing for the finale (following Jerry’s attempts to put a smile on a crippled girl’s face).

As can be seen, the formula is typical Martin & Lewis: songs, girls, sentiment and Lewis’ love-it-or-hate-it shtick; if anything, it’s certainly colorful and mildly entertaining along the way – but hardly a classic of screen comedy and, while clearly a popular title in the Lewis canon because he gets to don the clown make-up (the film, in fact, was re-issued in a shortened version entitled JERRICO, THE WONDER CLOWN!), not one of the better outings from the team.

Dean and Jerry are more relaxed in this film than in previous efforts. The comedy is also milder. It is also the first time Jerry indulges in his sentimental clown shtick. Hello, telethon Jerry! Dean has absolutely nothing to do in the film. He plays his usual heel character, but there is absolutely no depth to it. And where are the musical numbers? Only the woefully unfunny "That's My Boy" has less in the way of music! Dean and Jerry get to do one new number, "Puncinello", and Dean sings the standard "It's a Big, Wide Wonderful World" to a bunch of animals! (Hugh Shannon, the wonderful jazz singer-pianist who is most identified with this song, must have had a good laugh from Dean's version.) Dean has no ballads and hardly any screen time with his leading lady, Joanne Dru. It's all about Jerry, not silly, lovable Jerry, but a telethon Jerry, trying to become a clown. Actually, the film is quite amusing and heartwarming, but it's not Martin and Lewis. I do not know if Twenty-first Century youngsters would find this amusing, but I did when I was a kid. It is more endearing than "That's My Boy" and most of the solo Lewis films. It may be a bit slow for today's kids.

Jerry Lewis plays Jerome F. 'Jerry' Hotchkiss and Dean Martin is Peter 'Pete' Nelson, two friends who find work at the circus.Jerry's dream is to become a master clown, which he did become in real life.Joseph Pevney's 3 Ring Circus offers something for the Martin and Lewis fans they're asking for.Jerry is as zany and funny as always and Dean is as smooth and wonderful as he ever was.There are also stars like Kathleen Freeman and Zza Zza Gabor in the movie.I saw this movie in 1998 and I would like to see it again, as I would like to see a bunch of other Jerry Lewis films.This is the day when Jerry Lewis turns 80 years old.He still hasn't fully retired.On IMDb it said he's making a cameo in a movie called Horrorween, which comes out next year.He also wrote a book called Dean and Me: A Love Story.You should all read it.I sure would if only I could find it from this country.This grand old man has made so many people laugh over the years that all I can say to him is thank you.Laughter is something we all need these days.

Reports I've read state that "3 Ring Circus" was a very troubled production, ranging from stars Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis demanding a lot of script changes through filming to the fact that their partnership was at this stage becoming very strained. All of this turmoil may explain why the end results do not manage to be all that humorous. Much of the movie is surprisingly played in a lower key than usual; even Lewis doesn't go all out like he did in other movies. I will say that Lewis all the same is pretty good, especially when he's in clown makeup and performing in front of an audience. Martin does try, but the script for the most part makes him a kind of a heel instead of a humorous straight man, and often doesn't seem to know what to do with his character. There also isn't a heck of a lot of plot on display as well. The movie had potential, but this is definitely one case where everyone involved should have come to some sort of agreement first about how to do the movie - or simply not have done the movie at all.